Important information
• This presentation was created by
Patrick Douglas Crispen.
• You are free to reuse this
presentation provided that you
– Not make any money from this
presentation.
– Give credit where credit is due.
Now that I know
PowerPoint, how can I use it
to TEACH?
a presentation by
Patrick Douglas Crispen
Confusing novelty
• This presentation’s topic is both
confusing and novel.
• The confusing part is that this
workshop’s title might give you the
impression we’re going to spend the
next hour talking about how to teach
students to use PowerPoint.
• That’s not what we’re going to talk
about at all.
Confusing novelty
• Instead—and this is the novel part—we’re
going to take a look at
- Current learning theory and research,
- Usability studies, and
- Practical experience
to show you how to effectively use
PowerPoint to teach in any environment—
the K-16 classroom, a corporate training
center, a community meeting… anywhere.
• In short, we’re going to look at how you
can use PowerPoint to teach.
Supporting research
• Since what we’re going to talk about
today flies in the face of conventional
wisdom, expect to see a LOT of
references (in grey) in this
presentation.
• The full references are at the end of
this presentation (in a really small
font).
A final caveat
• While PowerPoint has been around for 17
years, the concept of studying
PowerPoint’s effectiveness in the
classroom is surprisingly new.
• The research is kind of thin and is based
mostly on student perceptions and
performance in large, undergraduate
lecture classes.
• So, take everything I am about to tell you
with a HUGE grain of salt. In other words,
TRUST BUT VERIFY!
Our goals
• Look at the process we all go through as
we learn PowerPoint.
• Investigate student perception of
PowerPoint in the classroom.
• See if student performance supports that
perception.
• Talk about PowerPoint and student notetaking.
• Learn a little bit about PowerPoint
usability.
• DO ALL OF THIS IN ENGLISH!
Powerpointless?
PowerPoint is a tool that can be
used well or poorly. More often
than not, we unwittingly choose
the latter.
Our PowerPoint evolution
We all start the same way: We learn
how to create simple presentations,
ones in which the message is more
important than the medium.
– These presentations are usually black
text on a (default) white background
with a mess of bullet points.
– Remember?
Our PowerPoint evolution
But, as our skills with PowerPoint
improve, our focus shifts from the
message to “gilding the lily.”
– Content takes a back seat to the new
goal of entertaining the audience.
– We spend HOURS looking for the right
sounds, pictures, or backgrounds to
beautify our presentations.
Fixing the blame
Part of the blame for this “lily gilding”
focus lies with ourselves.
– PowerPoint’s bells and whistles are
downright sexy.
– We (mistakenly) assume that bells and
whistles improve our presentations—our
presentations look better, so they must
be better teaching tools.
Fixing the blame
• Along the way, we forget that the
primary goal of any classroom
PowerPoint presentation isn’t to
entertain but rather to teach.
• And there is a HUGE difference
between a business PowerPoint
presentation and a classroom
PowerPoint presentation.
The problem with PowerPoint
• PowerPoint was originally designed for
business communication, not teaching.
• Business communication is all about
entertaining. There’s practically no
teaching involved.
• Microsoft added those fancy backgrounds,
animations, builds, transitions, etc. to
PowerPoint not for you and me but for the
business community.
The problem with PowerPoint
• Why? Because by using PowerPoint’s
fancy backgrounds, animations, builds,
transitions, etc. a businessperson can
– Impress you.
– Close the sale.
– Obscure the facts.
• But somewhere along the way we became
convinced that we needed to use
PowerPoint’s special effects as well.
Be honest: When you create
a PowerPoint presentation,
do you spend more time on
the content or on the bells
and whistles?
Fixing the blame
• So, part of the blame lies with us.
• But, part of the blame also lies with the
trainers and marketeers.
– A four year old can create a basic PowerPoint
presentation.
– To create an “advanced” presentation,
however, requires training or even special
software (both at a price).
• We are inundated with advertisements like
this:
So, what ARE the
possibilities?
HORRIBLE PowerPoint
presentations, ones that actually
impede or inhibit learning. For
example…
clicktoaddtitle.com
Leslie Harpold – Round 2
Lorem Ipsum Dolor
“Neque porro quisquam est qui
dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit
amet, consectetur, adipisci
velit…”
Lorem Ipsum Dolor
Curabitur sed
40
35
Nullam pretium
Mauris metus
30
25
Ipso
Facto
Lifto
Lefto
20
15
10
Curabitur sed
5
0
X
A
Lorem Ipsum Dolor
Lorem ipsum dolor
sit amet,
consectetuer
adipiscing elit.
Nam erat justo,
sagittis vitae,
commodo ut,
rhoncus lacus mit
nonummy, ante.
Duis ligula augue,
aliquam sit amet,
rutrum a, gravida
quis, lacus. Mauris
quam. Phasellus a
felis quis ipsum
tincidunt vehicula.
Morbi elementum
dapibus est.
Lorem Ipsum Dolor?
Slice 4
12%
1st Qtr
24%
Slice 3
5%
2nd Qtr
52%
Lorem Ispum Dolor!
“Nam erat justo,
sagittis vitae,
commodo ut,
rhoncus nonummy,
ante. Duis ligula
augue, aliquam sit
amet, rutrum a,
gravida quis, lacus.
Mauris quam.
Phasellus a felis”
LOREM IPSUM DOLOR
43.9
4th Qtr
31.6
20.4
46.9
45.9
0
30.6
20.4
1st Qtr
38.6
2nd Qtr
45
34.6
90
3rd Qtr
27.4
Mauris quam.
Phasellus a felis .
Vestibulum ante
ipsum primis in
faucibus orci
luctus et ultrices
posuere
50
100
East
West
150
North
200
What’s the point?
• Awful, isn’t it?
• How many times have you had to sit
through PowerPoint presentations
that look (and sound) like that?
• The point I am trying to make is
this: The fancier the PowerPoint
presentation, the less valuable the
ideas being presented. (Lovelace,
2001)
Student perception
What do your students feel
about you using PowerPoint to
teach?
Student perception
• Even with the endless steam of bad
PowerPoint presentations we inflict on our
students, students still prefer PowerPoint
presentations to presentations from
transparencies (Cassady, 1998; Perry &
Perry, 1998; Susskind & Gurien, 1999;
West, 1977) or even from a blackboard or
whiteboard. (Frey & Birnbaum, 2002)
• Why?
Student perception
• One reason is that students believe
PowerPoint has a positive effect on
lectures, especially in helping them take
notes and study for exams. (Frey &
Birnbaum)
• More specifically, students perceive
professors who deliver PowerPoint lectures
as being more organized. (Frey &
Birnbaum)
• Now, let’s rain on your parade.
Student performance
Does student perception
equal reality?
Three types of presentations
• Before we can answer that, let’s agree on
some common definitions.
• According to Bartsch & Cobern (2003),
there are three types of teacher-created
“multimedia” presentations used in most
classrooms:
– Transparencies
– Basic PowerPoint, which only includes text
information
– Expanded PowerPoint, which includes pictures,
sounds, movies, transitions, builds, etc.
Ready for a shock?
• There is no significant difference in
scores on quizzes that come from
transparencies and basic PowerPoint
lectures. (Bartsch & Cobern)
• Students do 10% worse on quizzes
that come from expanded PowerPoint
lectures. (Bartsch & Cobern)
Wait, there’s more!
• Does adding
pictures to your
presentations have
a positive effect on
students’
enjoyment or
learning of the
material?
• NOPE! (Bartsch &
Cobern)
Interference … 15 yards
• Having related pictures in your PowerPoint
presentation is neither beneficial nor harmful to
the students’ enjoyment or learning of the
material. (Bartsch & Cobern)
• Unrelated pictures in a presentation, however,
have a negative effect on students’ enjoyment
and the learning of the material. (Bartsch &
Cobern)
• A picture may be worth a thousand words, but
when you use an unrelated picture those
thousand words drown out what you are trying to
say.
For example
Image source: albinoblacksheep.com
• PowerPoint 1.0 was
actually derived from
a product called
“Presenter” that was
developed by
Forethought Inc. in
early 1987.
• Microsoft purchased
Presenter in August of
1987 for $14 million.
Notice the interference?
• That picture, while humorous, had nothing
to do with the real content of the slide.
• But, I’d be willing to bet that an hour from
now you’ll remember the “Howard Dean
kitten” picture but completely forget how
much Microsoft paid for PowerPoint in
1987.
• The slide entertains, but fails to teach.
Why? Well…
Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of
Multimedia Learning
• Students place relevant words into
auditory working memory and
relevant images into visual working
memory. (Mayer, 2001)
• Students then organize information
separately in auditory and visual
memory and finally integrate these
representations with prior
knowledge. (Mayer)
The problem with pictures
• The on-screen text in PowerPoint is
processed in visual memory because
it is seen, viewed with the eyes.
(Bartsch & Cobern)
• Relevant pictures do not help
because they are also stored in
visual memory along with the text—
no new information is added over a
different channel. (Bartsch & Cobern)
Are pictures necessary?
• You may not need any pictures in your
PowerPoint presentations.
– Students are usually able to understand the
facts without the help of a picture.
– Besides, the facts are what’s going to be on
your test, not the pictures.
• However—and this is an important point—
when the material is more complicated or
the students do not know much about the
information, pictures may be beneficial.
(Bartsch & Cobern)
In short, only use pictures to
teach, not to decorate or
entertain.
And don’t forget
• Enhancing a PowerPoint presentation
with even relevant pictures takes, on
average, 50% more time than
creating a basic (text-only)
PowerPoint presentation.
• This extra effort yields no
measurable gain in either student
enjoyment or learning.
• But it sure does look pretty.
Striking a happy medium
• If you absolutely have to use pictures in
your presentations, make sure the
pictures are absurdly relevant.
– When in doubt, leave it out.
• Better still, put all testable content on
text-only slides and then go crazy with
your filler slides.
– That way the presentation will look pretty, but
the “real” content won’t be lost due to visual
interference.
Try it yourself!
• The research on this topic is still a little thin, so
don’t just take my word. EXPERIMENT!
• Create two versions of the same PowerPoint
presentation:
– One loaded with pictures, sounds, builds, animations.
– One that is painfully generic (like the presentation you
are currently viewing).
• Give the presentations to two different classes or
sections and then see what the student test
results are.
• And, as long as we’re talking about student test
preparation, let’s take a look at…
PowerPoint and student
notes
More happy mediums
Do your students need help?
• Do your students need help taking notes?
• In a word, YES! (Potts, 1993)
• According to Kiewra (1985), even your
most successful students are missing
many of the important points in your
lectures.
– The best (college-level) note-takers include
less than three quarters of critical ideas in
their notes.
– First year college students fare far worse:
their notes contain only 11% of critical lecture
ideas.
Is note-taking even
necessary?
• Does student note-taking, however
badly the students may do it,
improve performance on fact-based
tests?
• Of course! (Kiewra, Potts)
• But whose notes should the students
review when it comes time to
prepare for a test: theirs or yours?
Notes and student
performance
• Not surprisingly, students who only review
the instructor’s notes perform better on
fact-based tests of the lecture material
than do students who only review their
own notes. (Kiewra, Potts)
• Even less surprisingly, students who don’t
even show up for the lecture but who
review the instructor's notes score higher
than students who attend the lecture and
take and review their own notes. (Kiewra,
Potts)
Giving students your notes
• So, to increase student performance,
should you tell your students not to take
notes at all and instead give your students
printed copies of your PowerPoint
presentations?
• Not exactly.
• The problem is that students remember a
greater proportion of the information in
their own notes than in provided notes.
(Kiewra, Potts)
Giving students your notes
• Wait. There’s more.
• Students who take the same amount of
time reviewing both their notes and the
instructor's notes perform best of all on
fact-based tests. (Kiewra, Potts)
• BUT, if the test requires higher-order
learning (e.g., analysis and synthesis of
ideas), having the instructor's notes is of
no benefit whatsoever. (Kiewra, Potts)
The happy medium
• So, to maximize student
performance on fact-based tests,
what we need is a way to combine
student note-taking during your
PowerPoint presentations with wordfor-word copies of your presentations
(and lecture notes) afterward.
• There are two ways to do this.
The happy medium
• The first way is what we described on the
last slide:
– Have your students take their own notes
during your PowerPoint presentation.
– Give your students a copy (or handout) of your
presentation after class but before the test.
• That’s exactly what I’m doing in this
presentation: you can download (or print)
this presentation later and combine it with
the notes you’re taking right now.
• And I’ll give you the test the next time I
see you. 
The 11% problem
• The “notes during/handouts after”
solution is pretty successful, but I’m
not sure if it solves what I consider
to be the real problem.
• Remember how I said that the notes
of first year college students contain
only 11% of critical lecture ideas?
• That bugs me.
Solving the 11% problem
• The problem is that we aren’t
teaching students how to take notes,
a critical skill students need in order
to succeed in higher education.
• Instead of “notes during/handouts
after” you might want to try “skeletal
outline before/notes during/handouts
after.”
Solving the 11% problem
In fact,
– Skeletal notes lead to better recall than
either the student's own notes or the
instructor's notes. (Hartley & Davies,
1986)
– The best recall occurs when students
receive skeletal notes before the lecture
and the instructor's detailed notes
afterward. (Hartley & Davies)
What is a skeletal outline?
• What the heck IS a skeletal outline?
• Well, in a skeletal outline, you give your
students a printed outline of your
presentation’s main topics and leave
plenty of white space on that outline for
your students to write their own notes,
definitions, etc. as they listen to your
presentation. (Potts)
• There is a positive correlation between the
amount of white space in your skeletal
outline and the amount of notes your
students will take. (Hartley & Davies)
Creating skeletal outlines
The easiest way to create a skeletal
outline in PowerPoint is to
– Save your presentation as an outline
– Open the outline in Microsoft Word
– Edit the outline to remove a bunch of
content and add lots of white space
– Print the outline and give it to your
students before your presentation
To save as an outline
• [Look! A picture!]
• In PowerPoint, go
to File > Save As…
• Then, in the “Save
as type:” pulldown list choose
Outline/RTF (*.rtf)
Editing your outline in word
• Expect to have to
completely change
the font and
positioning.
• How much you cut
out is completely
up to you.
Why not just print handouts?
• You could also, in
PowerPoint,
– go to File > Print,
– Choose to print
handouts, and
– print 3 handouts
per slide
• But that’s not
really a skeletal
outline, is it?
The problem with 3 slide
handouts
• Unless your slides are totally bereft of
information, or unless you have
obnoxiously detailed slide notes that
you’re willing to share with your students
after your presentation, a 3 slide handout
simply contains too much information for
a skeletal outline.
• Remember: The goal here is not only to
foster retention but to also teach the
students how to take notes on their own.
Does that make sense?
The happy medium
• Remember, to maximize student performance on
fact-based tests, we need to combine student
note-taking during your PowerPoint presentations
with word-for-word copies of your presentations
(and lecture notes) afterward.
• There are two ways to do this:
– Notes during/handouts after, or
– Skeletal outline before/notes during/handouts after.
• The latter is a LOT more work on your part, but it
teaches the students how to take notes.
The attention span problem
• One other word of advice: In a traditional
lecture, students can recall approximately
70% of the content from the first 10
minutes of the lecture but only 20% from
the last 10 minutes. (Hartley & Davies,
1986)
• Solution: front-load your presentation (put
your most important facts in your first few
slides).
Enough about content and
note-taking. Let’s talk about
design.
Which font should you use?
• The US State Department recently banned
the use of Courier New 12 in all official
correspondence.
• Beginning February 1, 2004, all State
Department correspondence must be in
Times New Roman 14.
• So should we follow the lead of our friends
at State and use Times New Roman in all
of our PowerPoint presentations?
NO!
Subjective test results
In subjective tests
measuring how
people judge the
screen readability of
different typefaces
(from 0 to 5, I
think), most people
prefer Verdana.
(Hoffman, 2004)
Verdana
Trebuchet
Arial
Times
Helvetica
3.11
2.27
1.81
1.56
1.24
Screen v. print font
• Verdana, Trebuchet, Georgia, Geneva, and
New York are all examples of screen
display fonts, fonts specifically designed to
look good on a computer screen.
• Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica
are actually print display fonts, fonts
specifically designed to look good on
paper.
• People strongly and consistently judge
screen display fonts to be easier to read
than print display fonts. (Hoffman)
Subjective v. objective
• Is there a difference between screen
display and print display fonts when it
comes to reading speed or accuracy?
• Nope! (Hoffman)
• The difference in reading speed of screen
presentations that use Verdana,
Trebuchet, Arial, Times, or Helvetica is
statistically non-significant. (Hoffman)
• And there is no difference at all in reading
accuracy between those five type faces.
(Hoffman)
In English…
• The font you use in your PowerPoint presentation
will probably have no impact on your student’s
reading speed or accuracy.
• But, people THINK Verdana and Trebuchet are
easier to read.
• So try to use Verdana or Trebuchet (or some
other sans-serif screen display font).
– The downloadable version of this presentation uses
Verdana.
– When I give this presentation in person, though, I use
Myriad Web because it is (currently) my favorite sansserif screen display font.
Serif v. sans-serif
• On paper, people prefer reading serif
fonts—fonts with a “tail” (like Times New
Roman.)
• On screens, however, prefer sans-serif
fonts—fonts without a tail (like Verdana).
• So, use serif fonts (like Times New
Roman) for your handouts and a sansserif font (like Verdana or Arial) for your
on-screen presentation.
Comic Sans: threat or menace?
• Comic sans is a both a screen display font
and a sans-serif font, so you should use it
liberally, right?
• WRONG! Unless you are creating
presentations for VERY small children, you
should avoid comic sans like the plague.
• Not only does comic sans look
unprofessional, it “was NOT designed as a
typeface… [and] [t]here was no intention
to include the font in other applications
other than those designed for children.”
(Connare)
Friends don’t let friends use
comic sans!
Oh sure, it LOOKS good ...
• Even if you use a screen display font,
reading from a computer screen [or
projector] is still about 25% slower than
reading from paper. (Nielsen, 1997)
• And if you change the contrast between
the text and the background, reading from
a computer screen becomes even slower
than that.
The contrast problem
• Many of PowerPoint’s built-in templates
use light text (like a white or yellow) on a
dark background (like blue or red).
• The problem is that when light text is
placed on a dark background, the text
may seem to “glow” (or “halate”), making
the text harder to read. (AT&T, 1989)
• Ambient light also tends to wash out
PowerPoint presentations with dark
backgrounds, totally throwing the contrast
(and legibility) out of whack.
Suggested contrast
combinations
• Instead of light text on a dark
background, try dark text on a light
background.
– If your projector is “too hot” or the room is too
bright, you’ll lose the background (the frills)
but the text will still be legible.
• Three decent color combinations:
– Green text on a yellow background
– Black text on a yellow background
– Black text on a white background
That’s all, folks!
Our key points
• Don’t detract: Stay away from
PowerPoint’s bells and whistles like builds,
transitions, animations, and sound effects.
– The bells and whistles are for selling, not for
teaching.
– If you absolutely have to use PowerPoint’s
frills, only add them to slides that contain nontestable content.
• Only use pictures to teach, not to decorate
or entertain.
Our key points
To maximize student performance on factbased tests,
– Have your students take notes during your
presentation and then give your students a
copy of your presentation (and lecture notes)
afterward.
– OR give your students a skeletal outline before
your presentation (with lots of white space),
have your students take notes during your
presentation, and then give your students a
copy of your presentation (and lecture notes)
afterward.
Our key points
• Because of diminishing attention
spans, front-load the first 10 minutes
of your presentation.
• Use a sans-serif screen display font
like Verdana for your on-screen
presentation, and use a serif print
display font like Times New Roman
for your handouts.
• Use dark text on a light background.
Our goals
• Look at the process we all go through as
we learn PowerPoint
• Investigate student perception of
PowerPoint in the classroom.
• See if student performance supports that
perception.
• Talk about PowerPoint and student notetaking.
• Learn a little bit about PowerPoint
usability.
• DO ALL OF THIS IN ENGLISH!
References
The references that follow are
formatted for printing, not for
on-screen display.
References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
AT&T. (1989) Open Look: graphical user interface application style guidelines. New York: Sun Microsystems.
Bartsch, R. A., & Cobern, K. M. (2003). Effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations in lectures. Computers & Education, 41,
77-86.
Bernard, M. (2003) Criteria for optimal web design (designing for usability).
http://psychology.wichita.edu/optimalweb/text.htm
Cassady, J. C. (1998). Student and instructor perceptions of the efficacy of computer-aided lectures in undergraduate
university courses. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 19, 175–189.
Connare, Vincent. Why Comic Sans? http://www.connare.com/comic.htm
Frey, B., & Birnbaum, D. J. (2002). Learners’ Perceptions of the Value of PowerPoint in Lectures. ERIC Document
Reproduction Service: ED467192
Hartley, J., and Davies, I. K. (1986) Note-taking: A critical review. Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, 15,
207.
Hoffman, Robert. (2004) Text Readability. http://edtechfm.sdsu.edu/bhoffman/type/font/intro.htm
Kiewra, K.A. (1985). Providing the instructor's notes: An effective addition to student notetaking. Educational Psychologist,
20, 33-39.
Lovelace, Herbert W. (2001) The Medium Is More Than The Message. Information Week, July 16, 2001. (Online)
Mayer, R. E. (2001). Multimedia learning, p. 53. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nielsen, Jakob. (1997). Be Succinct! (Writing for the Web). Alertbox, March 15, 1997.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9703b.html
Perry, T., & Perry, L. A. (1998). University students’ attitudes towards multimedia presentations. British Journal of
Educational Technology, 29, 375–377.
Potts, Bonnie. (1993). Improving the quality of student notes. ERIC Document Reproduction Service: ED366645.
Russell, I.J., Caris, T.N., Harris, G.D., & Hendricson, W.D. (1983). Effects of three types of lecture notes on medical student
achievement. Journal of Medical Education, 58, 627-636.
Susskind, J., & Gurien, R. A. (1999, June). Do computer-generated presentations influence psychology students’ learning and
motivation to succeed? Poster session presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Society, Denver,
CO.
West, R. L. (1997). Multimedia presentations in large classes: a field experiment. Paper presented at the Annual Convention
of the American Psychological Society, Washington, DC.
Fair Use Disclaimer
This presentation was created
following the Fair Use Guidelines for
Educational Multimedia. Certain
materials are included under the Fair
Use exemption of the U.S. Copyright
Law. Further use of these materials
and this presentation is restricted.
Now that I know
PowerPoint, how can I use it
to TEACH?
a presentation by
Patrick Douglas Crispen